Do a search on China's human rights violations, you'll get a wealth of information.
http://www.youth.net/olympic/student.china.html"The People's Republic of China (PRC) detains individuals for exercising their rights to freedom of association, freedom of religion and freedom of expression, including the right to impart and receive information, and other basic rights. Such violations include lengthy detention without charge or trial and depriving defendants of access to legal counsel."
"Dissidents who make their opinions known to the foreign media are often subject to threats, detention, harassment, intensive surveillance or imprisonment. During 1994 at least 20 Chinese writers, journalists, editors and publishers were persecuted in connection with their work. Also during the year, foreign correspondents from the BBC, Newsweek, Reuters, UPI, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, US television networks (NBC, CBS) and other foreign media outfits were detained and interrogated by PRC police regarding their work as journalists, including the interviewing of Chinese dissidents and students and filming in Tiananmen Square."
"Moreover, the PRC prohibits all religious activities outside establishments registered under the official branches of our state-recognized religions (Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Islam), established by the PRC government during the 1950s, through which Chinese and Tibetan religious adherents are required to practice their faith. Individuals conducting or participating in public worship without government authorization, including Catholics loyal to the Vatican and Protestants who worship in house churches, have been arrested, detained, placed under close police surveillance or internal exile, fined and, in some cases, tortured. PRC police have also confiscated religious literature and church property. and human rights organizations have documented the closure of hundreds of house churches since 1989."
So the answer to your question is no, Communism does not work. I would rather live free in an impoverished country than live oppressed in a wealthy one.